In much of the country, golf is solely a spring and summer sport, and at this time of the year the clubs are tucked away in the attic. But head south and golf is heating up with the weather as snowbirds flock to resorts from Florida to Southern California to relax and work on their game.
Golf courses have been an increasingly popular out-of-home advertising venue for a few reasons, the most obvious being the affluent and captive audience.
Besides ad signage near the tee boxes, advertising is also available on rental carts, on the GPS systems used to measure yardage, on tournament leader boards, and on the food and beverage carts that whip around the courses selling drinks.
To find out how to get your client’s message on golf courses, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Advertising on golf courses.
Who
Many companies offer various advertising options on golf courses, and the larger players can run campaigns across hundreds of courses in their networks. For this article Media Life looked at ProLink Media, Indiana Golf Advertising & Marketing Services, Sports Cart Media and Golf Green Media.
How it works
The aim of golf course advertising is to be unobtrusive, blending in with the ambiance of the course and the facilities, yet still be noticed. What may be surprising is the number of options for doing so, both on public and private clubs.
There's signage by the tee boxes, near where golfers tee off, that identifies the hole and often provides a map of the hole, along with space for an ad. Typically there's a different advertiser on each hole, and their ad will rotate to different holes through the season.
Ads can also be placed on the sides of the food and beverage carts that make the rounds from hole to hole, visiting each about once an hour. The ads wrap around three sides below the serving area, and there's also ad space on a rear panel above the serving area. Over an afternoon of play, a golfer might be exposed to a single message four or five times, assuming 18 holes of play.
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Golf cart advertising is another way to reach golfers out on the links. Advertisers can appear on the digital screens of GPS-equipped carts available at some courses that provide golfers with information such as how far they are away from the green. There's usually one advertiser on the screen per hole, and during play the ad will take up a fourth of the screen. Once the cart approaches the green, and the golfers get out to putt, the screen goes into sleep mode and is taken by a full-size ad.
Ads can also be placed on golf carts themselves, usually as signage on the sides or the rear of the cart measuring 6 inches high by 7 inches wide.
Other advertising options, available at some courses, include ads on machines golfers use to clean their shoes when they return to the club house, ads on the hubcaps of carts, ads placed inside the cup, which the golfer finds retrieving his ball, and ads on the mats golfers stand on at driving ranges.
In addition, some golf course advertising programs offer the advertisers discounts on games they can pass onto clients, typically as a card with the advertiser's logo on that the clients can use at participating courses.
Markets
Golf course advertising is available in any market where golf is played, which is year-round in states such as Florida, California, Texas and Arizona.
Numbers
As of Dec. 31, 2007, there were 15,970 golf facilities nationwide, 11,555 of which were open to the public, according to the National Golf Foundation. The top five states in terms of golf facilities were Florida (1,060), California (927), Michigan (836), Texas (832) and New York (818). In 2007 there were 29.5 million golfers in the U.S. age 6 and over.
How it is measured
Ad impressions are determined from attendance data, which is kept in the pro shop or wherever golfers check in for their round.
What product categories do well
Frequent golf course advertising categories include golf-related products of the sort sold in clubhouses and pro shops, including golf equipment and apparel, as well as food, beverages and personal care products such as sun tan lotion.
Other categories are for products that target affluent males, including automotive, financial, insurance, real estate, travel and telecom.
Demographics
Golfers skew 80 to 90 percent male, and they're an affluent bunch. About 42 percent have annual household incomes at or above $100,000, and 80 percent attended college, according to the NGF. About 26 percent own a business, 58 percent use a professional financial advisor, and 91 percent own their principal residence, with 18 percent owning a second home or condo.
Golfers spent $24.3 billion on equipment and fees in 2002, the latest data available from the NGF. Golfers also spend about $26.1 billion a year on golf travel, 75 percent of which goes to the hotel, transportation, and food and beverage industries.
Making the buy
ProLink Media: Puts ads on GPS-enabled screens in golf carts on 405 courses in the top 20 DMAs. Pricing is at $5,000 per hole per course, which works out to a $28 CPM.
Indiana Golf Advertising & Marketing Services: Handles on-course ad signage, including on tournament leader boards, as well as advertiser-sponsored discount golf cards.
An ad on one course runs between $1,500 and $2,000 per year, and that comes with 1,000 discount cards.
Sports Cart Media: Places ads on food and beverage carts on about 100 courses in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. Pricing is at $900 per month for one course. Sports Cart Media's CPM is around $8 per board
Golf Green Media: Has ads on carts on more than 400 courses in 41 of the top 50 DMAs. A six-month campaign on one course (60 panels total) costs $21,600.Golf Green Media’s CPM is $12.68.
Who’s already on golf courses
Golf course advertisers include American Express, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola. Lowe’s, Home Depot, Las Vegas Travel, Merrill Lynch, Kodak and UPS.
What they’re saying
"Golf course advertising is outside and it has an ability to reach a refined, upscale audience who you can engage when they’re relaxed and also often conducting business." --
Diane Cimine, president of Cimine Enterprises, a marketing and strategy consultancy
Web site info
ProLink Media
http://www.prolinknetwork.net
Indiana Golf Advertising & Marketing Services
http://www.igamsinc.com
Sports Cart Media
http://www.sportscartmedia.com
Golf Green Media
http://www.golfgreenmedia.com
The National Golf Course Advertising Association
http://www.ngcaa.org
Static Media Group (Cart wheels)
http://www.cart-wheels.com
